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| India-Pakistan |
| Pressure on Bangladesh over support for insurgents |
| 2004-01-14 |
| EFL The presence of Indian insurgents in safe havens in Bangladesh has never been in doubt, considering the volumes of hard intelligence input that New Delhi has. If confirmation was needed, a spate of reports relating to multiple incidents on January 2, 2004, and Dhaka’s subsequent responses, gave confirmation to India’s long standing complaint that its neighbour was being less than honest on the issue. On January 2, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) raided a hideout of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and captured six of its cadres and seized some weapons and a mobile telephone set. In another incident on January 2, the rebel All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) chief Ranjit Debbarma’s residence in Dhaka was attacked by rocket propelled grenades (RPG). Indian media reports said five ATTF rebels were killed in that attack and eight others, including Debbarma, were wounded. On January 2, Bangladeshi security forces reportedly arrested as many as 34 rebels belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) from different parts of Dhaka. Nevertheless, the flow of insurgents from India to safe havens in Bangladesh continues. Indeed, with ULFA having lost its bases and once-secure staging areas inside Bhutan, it is expected to turn to two obvious alternate locations, Myanmar and Bangladesh. But Yangon is already supposed to have turned on the heat on Indian insurgents in the country, leaving Bangladesh the only place that rebels like those of the ULFA have to hold on to. This, too, may not be easy anymore. Dhaka might continue to push ahead with its stand that no Indian insurgents are located or operating from the country, but may have to move as quietly as possible to neutralize these rebels and choke them off within its territory to escape a possible foolproof indictment by the international community as a nation that has not done enough to combat terror. A lot of these Indian groups, like ULFA, ATTF etc. have become major players in the Bangladeshi underground, and there are many linkages between them and the intelligence services of Bangladesh and Pakistan. The DGFI and ISI have allegedly managed to bring about a dozen of these insurgent groups into an umbrella organisation called the ULFSS, while at the same time, the huge numbers of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in the border districts of India have developed their own seperatist groups organised into a grouping called the AMULFA. The latter of which is tied in with other Bangladeshi jihadi and Islamist outfits. Intelligence sources indicated that the January 2 ’rocket attack’ - actually two grenades lobbed into Debbarma’s residence - took place in the Shamoli building apparently owned by a leading Bangladeshi political figure. The chiefs of the ATTF and ULFA were reportedly staying in this highly secure building. After the attack on the building’s 2nd floor, where the ATTF chief was allegedly staying, the local police swung into action and rounded up almost everyone in the building. Some of those picked up were supposed to have been Bangladeshi intelligence operatives. Later, all those picked up were released by the police. Sources claim that top officials of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI, Bangladesh’s Military intelligence agency) intervened to secure the release of these men. It is also claimed that members of a local mafia group called ’Seven Star’ were behind the rocket attack. It’s also possible that RAW used their contacts in the underworld to put out a hit against these leaders, who operate in Bangladesh much the same way that the Laskar and the Jaish operate in Pakistan. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |